Fibreglass and mineral wool products are commonly used as insulating material in walls, attics and the like to protect against the elements. These products are available in different forms such as batts or blanket that can be placed for example in walls or attics or as loose material that can be blown in, to fill open air pockets in for example an attic.
In the manufacture of such fibre insulation it is common to apply a binder resin such as a thermoset binder resin to the fibre in order to adhere the fibres to one another. Phenolic resin, comprising aqueous phenol formaldehyde condensation products, are commonly used as binders.
Formaldehyde is known to be a strong irritant and an allergenic agent. Formaldehyde is known to cause serious ailments in humans ranging from irritation of skin, eyes, and lungs to triggering asthma. Formaldehyde has been classified as a carcinogen in humans by the State of California and the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer.
Due to increasing concern regarding environmental and health impacts associated with formaldehyde resins, various resins have been developed to mitigate or avoid formaldehyde emissions. These new resins may be referred to as “eco” resins.
Another problem associated with fibreglass insulation is the formation of dust and fine glass particles that come lose from the fibre.
Anti-dusting formulations have been developed for use in the manufacture of fibreglass wool to reduce the amount of dust and glass particles released by these products. Pending application PCT/CA2008/001777, entitled “FORMULATION AND METHOD FOR DUST CONTROL OF FIBRE INSULATION” (the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference) was developed to address stability issues with known phenol formaldehyde binder systems used in the manufacture of fibreglass insulation.
Although known emulsion formulations, such as those taught in PCT/CA2008/001777, exhibit long term stability with formaldehyde based resins, emulsions formed in the same manner using the new binder systems having lower formaldehyde emissions do not. Therefore a solution is needed to be able to incorporate dust suppressing additives to these new binders.